Scientists capture ultra-tiny bacteria that are so small they are nearly non-existent

March 3, 2015 5:57 AM

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Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy have published a study in the journal Nature Communications that suggest they have discovered ultra-tiny bacteria that are so small and almost invisible even to the most powerful microscopes as to make scientists doubt if they are really alive.

These bacteria obtained from groundwater possess an average volume of 0.009 microns – where a micron is a millionth of a meter; and while about 150 of these elusive bacteria could fit into a Escherichia coli cell, over 150,000 cells of the nearly invisible bacteria could fit onto the tip of a human ...